


Crack in the Shell

by Breaking_Away



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Sorry, M/M, Pining Shane Madej, Poor Ryan, Protective Shane Madej, Sexual Assault, Whump, i love them both so much, i wrote this at three in the morning, ryanisaballofsunshine, the ghoul boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 11:54:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17344796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Breaking_Away/pseuds/Breaking_Away
Summary: It was supposed to be a normal outing with a few friends. They were supposed to get tipsy and leave. Of course, it didn't work out that way.Warning: This story may be triggering to sexual assault survivorsDisclaimer: This story is not meant to be in any way disrespectful in any way towards Shane and Ryan. They are both in beautiful relationships, and this is not meant to poke fun or attempt harm at those relationships. Also regarding the mature themes, I never in any way meant that any of this should ever happen to anyone. This is for the purpose of raising awareness through writing. Again, no disrespect towards the boys through this story.





	Crack in the Shell

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. Here we are. This took a while to write, so I hope you guys like it! Feedback is always appreciated and I take requests with open arms (except smut) so feel free to send a request to me!
> 
> Warning: This story may be triggering to sexual assault survivors
> 
> Disclaimer: I understand both of the boys are in great relationships, and this story is in no way meant to offend them or their relationships

Mondays suck.

And it was a particularly awful Monday for Ryan Bergara. He had stayed up until five the night before, working on a new exciting project for Unsolved, getting up three hours later for work.

And this was the only reason that Ryan agreed to the prospect brought to him when Shane Madej walked up to his desk.

"Hey Ry," Shane said while sitting down at his desk beside Ryan's. The ladder's eyes didn't look up from his computer, focusing on the editing in from of him in a tired haze.

"Hey," Ryan said lazily, not focusing. Shane frowned in concern.

"You okay buddy? Sorry, but you look like crap," Shane chided, laying his hand over Ryan's hand still placed on the mouse as gently shook it from his grip.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired," Ryan stated, then sighed and brought his palms to his eyes, leaning back into his chair.

"Looks like it. Me, Jen, and a few others are going out to a bar tonight. We're not getting drunk or anything, it's a Monday after all, just a little tipsy. You wanna come? Might bring a little relief," Shane offered, bringing his hand away from Ryan's after realizing it had been resting on top for too long to be platonic. The man being questioned sighed again and closed his eyes.

"Sure. Why not. We go right after work?" He asked, taking a long swig of his cold coffee.

"Yeah. I'm going to get back to work Ry," Shane said before putting his headphones on and beamed a warm smile towards the smaller man.

* * *

It was around seven hours later that Ryan found himself across the bar from his friend's, needing a breather from the crowded bodies and loud laughs that kept emitting from the group's mouths'. He was leaning against a wall of the bar, calmly breathing and watching a few people dance on the crowded dance floor. 

"What's your name?" Ryan's head swiveled sharply to meet the eyes of a male stranger that the words had come from. He was average height, maybe a little taller than Ryan, with red blemishes across his face and large eye bags making themselves known at the bottom of his eyes. His hair was so gelled back that if someone were to rough it up, it would most likely fall right back into the same, sticky position. When he smiled, his teeth were crooked, like a visit to the dentists didn't work out. He looked, for lack of a better word, gross. And Ryan didn't like him one bit.

"Ryan, nice to meet you," he chided, being polite despite the prickly uncomfortableness he felt tugging at his lungs.

"Nice bar, am I right?" The man asked, Ryan noticing that he never gave his own name.

"Yeah, I guess so." Maybe the man was just looking for a friend. Ryan hoped that was all.

"Even better now that I spotted you though." Ryan froze in his spot. Nope. Definitely not all. The ghoul hunter's fingers intertwined and twiddled together. Alright, so not just looking for a friend, definitely not. The idea of kissing those gross teeth made Ryan shudder. Yeah, that wasn't happening, not in a million years.

"Look, I'm sorry man, I'm just not interested-" Ryan started, but being cut off by the man. He wasn't trying to be rude, but quite frankly, this guy gave him the creeps. He didn't like it, not one bit. 

"Don't be afraid, trust me," the man continued on, ignoring Ryan's protest, drawing closer. "It'll be the best night of your life," he said while leaning into the man, slightly whispering the works in a husky tone in his ear while brushing his bicep lightly with a calloused finger.

"No thank you," Ryan said, teeth clenched while jerking away from the man's touch. Something clawed at his throat at the rough fingers slightly grazing his arm.

felt like when you first step out of the hot shower, and you become completely involved in a wind of cold air bursting through your body. Only this time it wasn't just surface temperature. It was bone-deep, chilling, and Ryan shivered violently. It was as if a ghost had directly flown right through him.

"You see young man, you're too pretty for me to just let go. Things don't work like that with me," The internal panic Ryan had begun to feel had skyrocketed at this point, leaving a large lump in his throat and shaking hands. Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god-

"Pardon me for saying this, but I don't give a damn about how things work with you. Now I would like you to please leave me alone," Ryan said, his voice cracking. His tough guy act wasn't fooling the man at all. The words clawed from his throat as Ryan said them. He could almost taste the pure fear. Or maybe that was just bile.

Suddenly the man drew closer and plunged his cold, chapped lips unwillingly onto Ryan's soft, graceful ones. His eyes widened to the size of the moon, and he immediately fought back, pushing and attempting to kick, but failing as the man rammed him against the wall, leaving no space for a good attack.

"Get away from me!" He managed, wiggling his head back and forth to get his mouth as far away from his attacker's as possible.

"Can't sweetheart," the man whispered while continuing to kiss him. Ryan then felt a cold hand gripping his zipper roughly, attempting to get a good grip. This was not happening. No no no no no. The short man's gut lurched with terror, and he reeled back, slamming his back even more into the wall, trying to get away from this monster in front of him.

Suddenly, Ryan felt a rough, inappropriate touch when the man finally got the zipper of his pant's down.

At first, it was fire. A burning sensation in his chest, climbing up his esophagus like a bonfire, the gasoline being the man's touch.

Then it was cold. An ice cycle being thrust into every sensitive part of him, melting and pouring into his blood, turning it frigid.

And at last, it was the pain. The man grabbed him roughly, way too rough to be pleasurable. It was painful, one of the worst pains he had ever felt, spiking every nerve throughout every part of him. He gasped, desperately trying to move his arms, move anything, but he was just too weak against the man's superior hold. He screamed, but no one could hear him against the loud thump of the music.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Shane. 'Oh my God, Shane. Shane is here, he's going to save you, it's going to be okay' Ryan thought, still terrified and the pain throbbing.

"Stay out of this, kid," the man said, grabbing Ryan's so seemingly small body and keeping him against the wall. The tears were streaming down Ryan's face at this point, blurring his vision. He couldn't decide if he wanted the tears to stop so that he could see Shane, or to keep flowing like a waterfall, never stopping and forever clouding his vision of the man in front of him.

"I sure as hell will not, not when you are hurting my best friend," Shane's voice replied, a dark tone Ryan had never heard before. Shane. It's freaking Shane Madej, which means you're going to be okay, he was going to be oka-

  
"And what are you gonna do to stop me?" The raspy voice echoed while the man stumbled, yet still managing to hold the exposed Ryan against the wall roughly. Ryan and Shane's eyes caught for a moment. There was something so deep about them. So determined, so protective, so- so unlike Shane. There was something behind that too. Concern. It was concern.

The next thing anyone knew, Shane walked up, all six foot and three inches of leg and forehead of him, and he raised his fist and proceeded to punch the man's face.

Hard.

Like, really hard.

So hard, in fact, that the man fell to the ground with a scream, a satisfying crack echoing in Ryan's head. Shane was breathing heavily, and he blinked for a moment, the adrenaline fueling out of him like smoke pumping through a chimney. But he looked at Ryan's face, Ryan Bergara, his Ryan's absolutely terrified face, and suddenly the concern and reality were smacked back on to his expression.

"That," Shane said simply, recoiling his hand and zipping up Ryan's zipper for him. "And a frick off to you, good sir," Shane all but fumed, flipping off the man after the words were spoken.

They walked, slowly but surely, out of the bar, Ryan in a daze, and Shane plastered to his side like a magnet, not letting go, his hand hovering just above his back. They finally got outside after what seemed like ten miles, and Shane put his hands gently on Ryan's shoulders, loosening even more when the ladder flinched violently.

"Ryan, are you okay? What the hell happened?" Shane questioned, looked over to Ryan and cupping his cheeks with his hands. When Ryan spoke, he wasn't looking at Shane. The tears were still there, and yet they looked so empty, so hollow to point of no return.

"He- he just, said hi, and then-then he j-just," Ryan tried, voice trembling, before being pulled into a hug by Shane. Now that was Goldilocks and the three bears crap. It wasn't like the cold seeping through his skin when the man had kissed him, neither was it the ever-burning fire spreading through his lungs when the man had touched him. It was just right. a lukewarm warmth pooling into his heart and spreading through his body.

"Hey, hey, it's okay man, I got you," Shane whispered into his ear, as his lanky arms covered his back and let Ryan cry freely into his shirt.

"S-Shane-"

"It's okay Ryan, nothing is going to happen with old long legs Madej with ya," Shane said comfortingly. After a bit, Ryan pulled away, hands shaking and legs pressed tight together, no matter how much it hurt.

"He kissed me and grabbed me, Shane," Ryan's voice trembled, sniffling. Shane stopped dead.

"Like, grabbed you grabbed you? Like-"

"Yes, grabbed me grabbed me," Ryan finished.

"Shit."

"I'm sorry, I-" Ryan started, interrupted by a concerned voice and look coming from Shane.

"Ry, come here baby," Shane said while opening his arms once more, clearly recognizing Ryan's failed attempts at keeping the emotions in. The latter cried openly again, and rammed himself into Shane's arms, slightly clawing at Shane's back as he sobbed and whimpered. Eventually, the downpour turned to light rain, but Ryan didn't break away.

"Hey, Shane?"

"Yeah?"

"It kinda hurts."

Shane blinked.

"I'll be right back, okay? Can you stay here for a few seconds?" Shane half asked, half pleaded. Ryan nodded against Shane's shoulder before being sat down on a nearby bench. Shane all but sprinted into the bar to grab his phone and wallet, and of course, Jen. One minute later, with Ryan staring at the ground like a man trying to perform telekinesis, Jen and Shane ran out of the bar with concerned expressions drowning their features.

Jen kneeled in front of the man, grabbing his hands. Ryan said nothing but did raise his head to meet her eyes. His broken, hurting eyes.

"Oh Ryan, let's get you home, okay?" She told him, his head bobbing slightly north to south before she softly grasped his arm and helped him stand up. Jen was half carrying him and letting him lean on her, his legs quite obviously weak. She was visibly struggling against his 150 pounds of pure muscle body.

"Oh to hell with it," Shane quietly whispered, walking up to Ryan and slowly picking him up bridal style. The smaller man squeaked but decided to lean into Shane's chest instead.

"I'm sorry," Ryan mumbled so quietly, just a rasp of his normal voice, a shred of the normal ball of sunshine Shane was so used to. And it broke his heart. Shane wanted to tell him he loves him, that he's the most amazing thing that ever happened to him. He wants to shout to the world, hire a skywriter, buy a billion roses. He wants to hug him, kiss him, make him feel loved until his brain gets numb from the affection.

He said, "it's okay baby" instead.

"You're apartment I'm guessing, Shane?" Jen asked the now Shane-holding-Ryan-against-his-body-in the-backseat-of-Jen's-car-Madej. He looked down at the little man curled up against him, his eyes unblinking and hollow.

"Yeah," he said, uncertain. Then he looked down again. "Yeah, my apartment is good."

When they finally reached the brick apartment complex that held Shane's humble abode, Shane picked up Ryan again once more and laid him on his couch once they finally got the stupid door to open. The two adults then walked to the front door, Shane holding it open for Jen.

"You take care of him, okay? This kind of thing won't just disappear instantly." Shane didn't say anything, but she didn't really need the confirmation. "I talked to the rest of the gang, told them that Ryan wasn't feeling well and that we took him home," she stated after a pause of silence, echoing through Shane's heart. He still hasn't said anything. Jen looked up at him worriedly with her big, soft, brown eyes, "You got this, big guy?" she questioned eventually. Shane swallowed thickly.

"Yeah," he said with uncertainty. She raised a loving eyebrow at him. He offered a faint smile. "Yeah, I got this."

"Call me if anything bad happens, okay?"

"Okay,"

"Goodnight Shane."

"Goodnight Jen."

He closed the door. Alone. Well, he had Ryan, but he wasn't necessarily himself at the moment.

"Hey Ry," Shane said softly, sitting down on the couch near the man.

"T-thanks for helping me back there, before it escalated to," Ryan paused. "Worse," he finished lamely, yet so important. Shane smiled, but it was melancholy and did not reach his eyes.

"Anything for you, Ry,"

"I'm so sorry," Ryan said, breaking, finally looking up from the ground and into Shane's face, every line in his face etched with something Shane had never seen the likes of before.

"Why are you sorry Ry?" he questioned, moving a little closer. Ryan brought his knees to his chest and shook his head, biting his lip.

"It was my fault, I should have just stood up for myself physically before you had to intervene, I'm just wea-"

"Ryan," Shane interrupted, looking dead serious. Ryan looked to the couch, suddenly interested in one of the coiled loose strings. "Ryan, look at me," Shane pleaded, gently cupping his face to look into his. They connected eyes. "Please don't finish that word, because it's not true. You are anything but weak, you are one of the strongest people I know. How else would you face those ghosties?"

The joke fell flat, a deadpan silence filling the seemingly empty room. Shane sighed nonetheless and continued, deciding to ignore the lack of a familiar wheeze.

"It's not your fault, Ry. It was his, and only his." The shorter man nodded. He didn't mean it, but he nodded. The room fell to silence again. It wasn't uncomfortable. Shane just wanted Ryan to be okay. "Are you okay Ry? How are you feeling?" No response came. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but I'm here to help."

Ryan shifted, and when he spoke, his voice was a bit raspy and was drowned with emotion. "I feel gross and numb. That's about it."

"Okay," Shane said. "We can fix the gross part. We'll have you checked out by the doc real quick tomorrow. Do you wanna shower?" Shane questioned.

"I- I don't think that will help," Ryan admitted. Shane looked pained and stared into Ryan's unwilling eyes.

"Tell me what you need Ry."

"Just," Ryan paused, Shane anxiously anticipating an answer."Just turn on some X files." Shane slightly wheezed.

"Alright then, X files it is." They curled up, Ryan's body leaning against Shane's, holding himself tightly, but Shane holding him even tighter. Eventually, Ryan's ghostly eyes closed, and he fell to the realm of sleep, leaning against Shane completely. Shane smiled slightly and kissed his head before muttering the last words before he fell asleep too.

"Love you, Ry. It'll be okay." 


End file.
